Talk me into (or out of) a Tanto blade!

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The small 21 tanto is a great knife. Somehow it feels like it could handle much greater tasks than it's size and weight would suggest.

Here's a gratuitous pic of yesterday's EDC ;)

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Funny seeing this post, I juuust had this racing through my brain a couple days ago. After serious serious thought I ended up getting the plain large sabenza. It arrives Thursday. The tanto just looks like a chopped down drop point... but I'm a knife addict friend, I'll have one soon. I'm sure of it
 
Because of these posts, I finally pulled the trigger on a tanto Zaan. I've been looking at them for a while now. A lot of good info here. I am very excited to try this new blade shape out. I think it will be very useful.
 
Well guys thanks to a VERY generous member ( Ajack60 Ajack60 ) who let me test drive his user small tanto 21, I was able to learn a few things:

1. The small is *TOO* small for me, which is probably why I don't currently own any. I even sold my Ti-Lock a while back due to it feeling a little smallish. When I pull the trigger on one of these, it will be a Large for sure as I know that will fit like a glove!

2. I know first hand that I like the Tanto blade shape. Even though it was a small blade, I was able to use the knife like I did my drop point or Insingo Seb's. I really like the tanto tip for opening up boxes, especially with tape. That way the point gets a bit gummed up but the bottom part of the blade stays clean. I open boxes with the back of my Insingo for the same reason.

3. Sharpening is NOT a problem. While it is a 2-step process (sharpen the point, then flip and sharpen the belly), the actual sharpening is pretty easy and straight forward. You are basically just sharpening 2 flat edges. Now I can see how people mess these up by trying to cheat and just lock the blade in and follow the edge, which destroys the transition line between the point and belly. However, if you do it correctly it's almost hard to mess it up.

4. And this is the most important: The members on this forum are AMAZING. Again I would like to extend a HUGE thanks to @Ajack60 who volunteered to send a great knife to a total stranger just to help him out since I didn't have anywhere around here that even carries CRK's. Thank you sir!


I'd love to hear more thoughts on the Tanto's as now I KNOW I'm a fan. It might be a bit before I pick one up, but this is now on my "To Buy" list!

Thanks again guys!
 
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Wow, I'll give a shout-out to Ajack60 Ajack60 on your behalf too! It's not like he lent you a $20 blade!

Glad you had the chance to see how the Reeve tanto handles in hand. The straight edge and relative non-tapering spine always make the 21 tantos (large & small) look and feel (to me anyway) larger than the drop points, even though the opposite is actually true (though just by a bit).

While you're salivating over your intent, don't forget about the 'Zaan. IMO the tanto Umnumzaan with it's hemi-harpoon has the awesomest grind of any CRK folder. The pics below are similar to what I posted earlier, but with different light playing off the spine. Check-out how the "swedge" gets all polygonal as it approaches the tip--then it flattens out atop the spine, before dropping into an identical polygon on the opposite side. Spectacular.

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Glock Guy Glock Guy , excellent review :thumbsup:,
Now you have me blushing :cool:, it wasn't a problem sending you the knife so you could have it in hand. It is aggravating not to have a model in hand to know how it feels. As far as me sending you the knife, I'm just paying it forward. I've had members here send me knives to try out. That's one of the biggest reasons I don't own a mnandi or a small Inkosi.:eek:
Just glad I could help out and want to thank you again for the top notch sharpening job you did on that tanto.:thumbsup:
 
Ajack60 said:
Glock Guy Glock Guy , excellent review :thumbsup:,
Now you have me blushing :cool:, it wasn't a problem sending you the knife so you could have it in hand. It is aggravating not to have a model in hand to know how it feels. As far as me sending you the knife, I'm just paying it forward. I've had members here send me knives to try out. That's one of the biggest reasons I don't own a mnandi or a small Inkosi.:eek:
Just glad I could help out and want to thank you again for the top notch sharpening job you did on that tanto.:thumbsup:
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This is an awesome group!

Glad you like the edge. I figured it was the least I could do for helping me out!
 
Glock Guy said:
OK so I’ll admit that I haven't been the biggest fan of the Tanto in the past, however my feelings seemed to have changed recently and I find myself actually thinking about getting a Seb 21 with this shape. And while I’ve always thought that the Tanto shape *looked* pretty cool, I have always wondered about the actual functionality in terms of daily use.

For those of you that have had (or still have) the drop point and/or Insingo style blades, does the Tanto actually perform well in comparison, or is it a distant 3rd?

Finally does anyone actually prefer the Tanto over any other style, and if so, why?

Thanks!
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This was a very good thread discussing tantos, and their benefits and hinderances.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/tantos-a-serious-discussion.1533219/#post-17608783

Also tantos are easy to sharpen as long as you treat the two edges as separate edges. You have to sharpen them separately or it will round that secondary tip.
 
peterbright said:
Sexy can be quite dang
erous...I have more than a few ex-wives that are capable of proving that point (pun intended).
The first one I bought was for its looks, but they perform well.
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I got a laugh...thanx.
p.s. I don't like tantos. just an opinion...and have owned a couple. I WANT the blade sweep...more useful for me.
 
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